Adjustable bobbin truck



June 16, 1959 N. w. EURl-:Y

ADJUSTABLE BoBBIN TRUCK Filed Jan. 2l, 1955 INVENTOR: NOAH W.` EURE-m ATroRNEYs srlbstamiallyalong line .4j-4in.. Figure-53,;

United States Patent O ADJUSTABLE BGBBIN TRUCK Noah W. Eurey, Lncolnton, N.C., assgnor, by mesne assignments, to Excel, Inc., Lincolnton, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina j Application January 21, 1955, Serial No. 483,227

3 Claims. (Cl. 2811-792) This invention relates to hand trucks and more espe- ICC 16a. The support members 14, 15 are suitably secured at their opposite ends to the oblong continuous bumper 11 (Figure 3) and the transverseframe members 13, 13a, 16 and 16a are secured, at opposite ends, to the bumper 11 and the support member 12. Wheels 20 are journaled in suitable supports 21 fixedly secured adjacent opposite ends of the transverse frame members 14 and 15, and end wheels 23 are journaled in suitable supports 24 xed to opposite ends of the longitudinally extending frame member 12. It will be noted by referring to Figures 1 and 2,

that the lower peripheries of the wheels 20 are at a lower cially to bobbin trucks of the type used in textile mills for i transporting bobbins and the like from one operation in the mill to another.

Heretofore, hand trucks have been manufactured which have had cargo bins that were adjustable vertically as well as being adjustable as to horizontal angularity so as to render the articles within the bin more accessible by depositing them in the lowered end of the bin. However, in each case the horizontal angularity has been ad justable by some type of manually operable adjustment so that once the truck bin is adjusted vertically a separate manual adjustment is required each time it is desired to change the horizontal angularity of the bin of the bobbin truck. This is a decided disadvantage since such adjustments are necessarily time consuming and must frequently be made within the narrow space provided by the alleys between textile machines and the like.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to pro- `vide a bobbin truck, the binholding frame of which is vertically adjustable and also resiliently mounted on the elevation than the end wheels 23 so as to facilitate manip.- ulation of the bobbin truck. f

The longitudinally extending frame member 12 has lixedly secured thereto the lower end of a vertically disposed rectangular `tubular guide or support member which is additionally supported by suitable angularly disposed bracing members 31 and 32 which extend between the guide member 30 and the frame member 12.

The support member 30 has an opening 35 cut therein adjacent the upper end thereof which is provided to acl commodate an eccentric cam wheel 36 fixed to the horizonal portion 37 of an operating lever 40. The horizontal portion 37 of the lever arm 40 is rotatably or oscillatably mounted in a pair of support arms 41 and 42 secured to opposite side edges of the guide member 30.

upper end of the vertically adjustable support means whereby the horizontal angularity of the bin may be adjusted by exerting downward pressure on either end of the bin-holding frame to thus make the bobbins carried by the bin slide or move by gravity to the lowered end thereof so that the weight thereof will maintain the bin at a desired angle to render the bobbins easily accessible to the operator. lf an operator desires to remove bobbins from the opposite end of the bin of the truckwithout turning the truck around he may exert downward pressure on the opposite end of the bin to remove bobbins therefrom.

It is another object of this invention to provide means for vertically adjusting the height of the bin-holding frame of a bobbin truck which may be quickly and easily operated to allow the height of the bin-holding frame to be quickly adjusted.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- L Figure 1 is a side elevation` of the improved bobbin truck; j.

`Figure 2 is an end view of the improved bobbin truck kingjat the left-hand end of Figure l;

.I,Fig"urew3 is a sectional plan Aview taken substantially Figure 4 is an enlarged The eccentric cam wheel 36 is adapted to, at times, engage and clamp vertically movable slide bar 45 which is slidably mounted for vertical movement inside the support member 3d. The medial portion of a transversely extending plate or angle bracket 46 is secured to the upper end of the slide bar 45, opposite ends of the transversely ex tending angle bracket 46 being provided with respective lower spring anchoring elements Sil and 50' (Figures 2, 4 and 5) xediy secured thereto. The brackets 50 and 50 are adapted to hold and support the corresponding ends of a pair of closely Wound coil springs 51, 52 and 51', 52', respectively, the other ends of the springs 51, 52 and 51', 52 being supported by upper spring anchoringelements 55, 55. rIhe brackets 55, 55 are .suitably secured to respective longitudinally extending bin-holding frame members 56 and 57, corresponding ends of which are joined together by curved end plate members 60 and 61.

An upper elongated continuous band 63 is spaced above the longitudinally extending frame members 56 and 57 and suitably supported in spaced relationship thereabove by outwardly diverging frame members 64, 65, 66 and 67, which extend between respective longitudinal frame members 56 and 57 and the continuous band 63. The continuous oblong band member 63 supported above the longitudinally extending frame members 56 and 57 provides an open framework for the insertion of a Couven-'- tional bobbin bin 70 shown in dash-dot lines in Figures 1 and 2. a

The lower spring holding and support brackets 50 and 50' have one end of respective chains 71 and 72 secured thereto, the opposite ends of which are fixed to the respective frame members 56 and 57. The chains 71, 72 are safety chains to prevent over-exertion or over-loading of either of the coil springs 51, 52, 51 and 52 as either end of the bobbin bin 7i) is lowered. The longitudinally extending frame members 56 and 57 are also provided Lwith` downwardly extending plate members 74andj 74' adjacent the central portion thereof which serve to proered relative'to the `guide member 30Aanrd thus raise or n engage and hold the slide 45 at the desired elevation in? the guide 30. l

As shown in Figure 5, the lower spring anchoring brackets 50, 50 and the upper spring anchoring brackets 55, 55' are connected only to the outer portions oi: their respective pairs of springs 51, 52 and 51', 52', the inner portions of saidrsprings being unsupported. As previously noted, the springs are closely wound so that the outer portions of the coils of the springs bear against each other when subjected to the weight of the bin carrier, as clearly shown in Figure 5. Consequently, the contacting outer portions of the springs confined between the brackets 50, 5,5 and 50', 5S limit transverse tilting of the bin carrier while permitting the bin carrier to be tilted longitudinally.

The bobbin bin 70 may be horizontally adjusted or lowered at either end by an operator by merely pushing down on either end ofthe bobbin bin 70 to extend either pair of the springs 51, 51 or 52, 52 to thus lower either end of the bobbin bin 70, as desired. lfl there are a sufcient number of bobbins in the bobbin'bin 70 the bobbin bin 70 will remain lower at the end to which the bobbins have slid and as the bobbins in the lowered end are removed therefrom the stretched spring will tend to collapse or close the coils thereof to again return the bobbin bin "70 to substantially a horizontal position.

It is thus seen that l have provided a bobbin truck provided with a bin which is quickly and positively vertically adjustable as well as being resiliently and pivotally mounted for the easy and quick lowering of either end of the bin.

In the drawings and specication there has been set forth a'preferred embodiment of the invention and although specitic terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a truck having a wheeled base and a tiltable bin carrier the combination of means for supporting said bin carrier in variable spaced relation above said base and for resiliently maintaining said bin carrier in a substantially horizontal position; said supporting means comprising a tubular guide xedly secured to said wheeled base, a slide member the lower end of which is slidably Vmounted in said guide member and an eccentric cam wheel mounted 'on said tubular' guide and engageable with said slide mem- 'ber for preventing relative sliding movement between said slide'member and said guide member, said resilient maintaining means comprising a transverse plate on the rupper end of said slide member, iirst and second pairs of longitudinally spaced closely wound coil springs extending between said transverse plate and said bin carrier, said `second pair of springs being spaced transversely from said rst pair of springs, upper and lower spring anchoring elements secured tothe bin carrier and the transverse plate respectively,V and said spring anchoring elements leach being connected to the outer portions of one pair of springs in such a manner as to normally maintain the bin l 4 carrier in a horizontal attitude and to permit longitudinal tilting of the bin carrier in response to the application of a force or load to either end of the bin carrier while limiting transverse movement of the bin carrier.

2. In a truck having a wheeled base, a tiltable bin carrier and support means extending upwardly from the medial portion of saidbase for maintaining said bin carrier in vertical spaced relation to said base, the combination of means for resiliently connecting said bin carrier to said support, said connection means comprising a transverse plate secured to the upper end of said s upport, first andsecond vertically spaced spring anchoring elements disposed at opposite Isides of said support, said first spring anchoring elements being connected to said transverse plate adjacent opposite ends thereof and said second spring anchoring elements being connected to said bin carrier, a pair of longitudinally spaced closely wound coil sprngsadjacent each end of the transverse plate, eachrpair of springs extending between said vertically spaced spring anchoring elements, the distal portions of each pair of springs relative to the other pair of springs being secured between their respective vertically spaced spring anchoring elements, said springs normally urging said bin carrier to a substantially horizontal attitude and being yieldable under pressure applied vertically to either end of said bin carrier to permit said bin carrier to tilt longitudinally relative to said wheeled base, and limiting means extending between said bin carrier and said transverse plate for limiting longitudinal tilting movement of said bin carrier beyond a predetermined point.

3. In a load carrying device comprising a base and a load carrying surface arranged above the base, means resiliently supporting the load carrying surface above the base for tiltable movement through a predetermined vertical plane while otherwise limiting the load carrying surface against tiltable movement relative to the base, `said means comprising iirst and second vertically spaced spring anchoring elements disposed adjacent opposite sides of the base, said iirst spring anchoring elements extending in parallel relation to said vertical plane and being connected to the base adjacent opposite sides thereof and said second spring anchoring elements being connected to the load supporting surface in coinciding relation to the lirst spring anchoring elements, a pair of closely wound coil springs adjacent each side of the base, the springs in each pair of springs being Vspaced from each other in a direction parallel to said vertical plane and extending between said` vertically spaced spring anchoring elements, and the outer portions of each pair of springs being secured to their respective vertically spaced spring anchoring elements whereby said load carrying surface is normally urged to a substantially horizontal attitude and limited against move ment transversely of said vertical plane.

France Aug. 17, 1910 

